The appropriate anchor for our boat up to the 242 is the SMALL box anchor. The size system of Slide Anchor (maker of the box anchor and shore spike) is kind of screwy.
Box Anchor sizes
Baby Box Anchor - Personal watercraft
Small Box Anchor - Offshore / Sport 18' to 30', cabin cruiser to 24'
Large Box Anchor - Offshore / Sport to 40', cabin cruiser to 32'
Ex-Large Box Anchor - House boats, cruisers longer than 32'
I personally think that 2 to 1 scope as stated, is not enough scope to hold in much wind. So about 3 to 1 is fine to 30mph, and over or gusty winds, go 4 or 5 to 1 and you can hold on a Small box in a storm. I may have a different opinion than some but I made a modified version of the box anchor to fit our 2007-2009 SX/AR/SR230 boats. I have used them in various conditions and they work very well. They may not be lightweight, but it is the heft that gives a good deal of the capability. The box is the other part that makes them a great sand anchor as the box fills with sand and increases the apparent weight and hold. They don't have the length of fluke of a fluke style anchor such as the stock Yamaha, a Danforth design, so a straight digging anchor they are not. But a danforth is harder to set and easier to unearth. The small box will fit folded in the anchor locker of the 24' boats, but I recommend that you pad that locker to prevent damage if it bounces, and it will. Having use the same anchor that I made for
@Bruce for 5 years, I can tell you that one in those boats is very convenient but there is a learning curve. In the 24' boats, it won't fit them so I stopped making them. I now use the Slide Anchor Box anchor that I first bought for the 230, loved it, lost it, and designed one to work in the 230. The small box folded in the anchor locker takes less than a minute to remove, set on a towel on the seat or on your knee after you gain comfort with it, unfold, lock, and toss. The key to a box is making sure the anchor line is not tangled in it as you toss it, and you DON'T USE CHAIN with a box anchor under almost every circumstance, and in our boats, you will never use chain. When retrieving, you pull your boat by hand directly over the anchor, where the rode is straight down from the boat to the anchor below, and feel as you lift the control arm off the bottom, lift the anchor straight up off its side, and retrieve. That saves hooking something. Best anchor I have used on any boat. The amount of rode (anchor line) you put out controls whether the anchor will ever break loose in prevailing winds up to about 60 degrees. Beyond that, it will loosen and reset, but a danforth will let you drift to shore. I would trust my box anchor overnight anytime, but it is setting it, not the anchor. And by that, I mean the amount of rode you put out. And for you danforth operators, you can use two under heavy wind or water conditions at an angle off the bow up to the wind shift limits, and that will control you for the night unless the winds shift 180 degrees, if they might, you better get a box!
